Australia’s fertility rate has fallen to a new record low after declining to 1.66 babies per woman in 2019 from 1.97 in 2009.

Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed the nation registered a total of 294,369 births in 2020.

Co-Founder and Director at the Demographics Group, Simon Kuestenmacher, expects the numbers to drop more.

“I would expect that we’ll see an even further decline in the data next year because in the pandemic, there will not be a corona baby boom. In times of economic uncertainty people always have fewer rather than more kids simply because who wants find commit to such a financial decision as well,” he said.

Statistics show a decline in the total fertility rate in the last 30 years, particularly in women between the age of 15 to 24.

Mr Kuestenmacher say the statistics are due to a number of problems such as financial comfort, housing affordability and career moves.

“When you invest so much time into your education, then it is hard to step away from workforce for a long time and fewer and fewer women are willing to step away from a longer career break in order to raise kids,” he told Oliver Peterson.

Even though the birth rate is declining, Mr Kuestenmacher believes population may not necessarily decline too.

“Since we depend on overseas migration for the majority of our population growth. About two thirds of our population growth usually comes from migration,” he said.

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